REGION: NCTD leaders slam federal requirement

CHRIS NICHOLS - cnichols@nctimes.com

North County Transit District leaders floated the idea Thursday
of refusing to pay for an expensive and federally mandated rail
safety program, then did a quick about-face when they learned such
a move could shut down the district's coastal railway.

In the end, the district's board voted 8-1 to pay for a $332,728
study of how to install positive train control. The required safety
technology could cost NCTD anywhere from $27 million to $90
million. To put that in perspective, as board member and Solana
Beach City Councilman Dave Roberts did, $90 million is about the
size of NCTD's entire annual budget.

"I understand we're all frustrated," said Matt Tucker, the
district's executive director, after several board members asked
why NCTD should have to pay for the unfunded mandate. "(But) we're
the owners of the railroad. And if we don't take steps to maintain
the railroad, we could find ourselves in a precarious way."

The district's attorney, C. Michael Cowett, was more direct,
saying, "In a practical manner, we won't be operating trains on
this railway. The law clearly says that. So it'd be a game of
chicken."

The advice didn't budge board member Mark Packard, a Carlsbad
city councilman. He was the lone 'no' vote.

"If (the federal government) believes this is important, why are
they not funding it?" he said earlier in the meeting, held in
NCTD's Oceanside headquarters.

The costly safety project uses global positioning technology,
two-way wireless data links and computers installed on every train
to create a backup system that can hit the brakes if a train is
going too fast. It also can stop a train that's about to run a red
light and is heading toward oncoming traffic.

Positive train control was mandated for all intercity passenger
and commuter railroads by 2008's Federal Rail Safety Improvement
Act. That law was spurred by the Chatsworth train disaster in which
a Metrolink train ran a red light and crashed head-on into a
freight train, killing 25 people in the Los Angeles suburb on Sept.
12, 2008.

Tucker, NCTD's executive director, said the technology will
provide more than just safety. It will allow trains to run more
frequently on the 90-mile railway, literally just seconds behind
each other. That's because the automated controls provide more
assurance than humans can that a train will stop on time in the
event of a problem, Tucker explained.

The California-based design firm, HNTB Corp., was awarded the
$332,728 contract. It is tasked with planning the scope of the
safety project, refining its cost and recommending how the district
should proceed.

NCTD must submit an initial project plan to the Federal Railroad
Administration by April 16.